Good Game Sports
Rotating Partner Round Robin

Rotating Partner Round Robin walkthrough

This walkthrough covers the complete end-to-end workflow for running Round Robin (Rotating Partners) in Good Game Sports—from creating the event through generating matches, entering scores, and reading standings. Use this as your single reference for the entire lifecycle of this format.

What is Round Robin (Rotating Partners)?

Round Robin (Rotating Partners) is a format where players register as individuals and partners change each round. This lets every player compete with multiple partners across the event, making it ideal for social play, mixers, and club events where meeting new players is part of the experience.

Key characteristics:

  • Players register individually, not as fixed teams

  • Partners rotate automatically each round

  • Each player's individual record accumulates across all games

  • Doubles only—every round pairs players into teams of two

[!WARNING] Set the division type to Doubles. The Division Type dropdown also lists Singles, but this format has no singles schedule—every round is built from two-player partnerships. A rotating partner division set to Singles cannot generate matches.

Step 1: Create the Event from Your Club Page

You have two paths to create this format:

If your club uses CourtReserve for registrations, create the event from there so player signups stay synced automatically.

Prerequisites:

  • Club owner access in Good Game Sports

  • CourtReserve admin access

  • CourtReserve plan with API access (Scale or Enterprise)

If CourtReserve isn't connected yet, connect CourtReserve first.

Creation steps:

  1. From the Good Game Sports dashboard, go to Manage Club

  2. Navigate to CourtReserve Events

  3. Find your event in the list (events sync from 2 days past to 100 days future)

  4. Click + Create Event on GGS next to your event

  5. In the Create GGS Event dialog:

    • Event Type: Choose Tournament, League, or Single Day Event

    • Type: Doubles

    • Format: Select Round Robin (Rotating Partners)

  6. Click Create Event (or Create {number} Single Day Events for multi-session events)

The event is now linked to CourtReserve. Player registrations sync automatically—players keep registering in CourtReserve while Good Game Sports handles the event operations.

For the full step-by-step, see Create a Rotating Partner Round Robin event from CourtReserve.

Option B: Create Directly in Good Game Sports

If you don't use CourtReserve or prefer manual player management:

  1. From the dashboard, click + Create Event

  2. Fill in event details (name, dates, location)

  3. Set Format to Round Robin (Rotating Partners)

  4. Set Division Type to Doubles

  5. Click Create Event

[!INFO] Events created directly in Good Game Sports cannot be linked to CourtReserve later. If you need CourtReserve syncing, use Option A.

For the full step-by-step, see Create a Rotating Partner Round Robin event manually.

Step 2: Add or Sync Players

Before generating matches, your event needs players.

If Using CourtReserve

Players sync automatically from CourtReserve registrations. To refresh manually:

  1. Go to your event

  2. Open the Players tab

  3. Click the sync button to pull the latest registrations

For detailed syncing steps, see Sync players into an event.

If Not Using CourtReserve

Add players manually or import from a spreadsheet:

  1. Go to your event

  2. Open the Players tab

  3. Click + Add Players to add manually, or import from a spreadsheet

For Leagues with Multiple Play Dates

If your event is a league with multiple sessions, players can opt in or out for specific play dates. This lets players commit only to the dates they can attend.

  • Set up your play dates first, then configure the opt-in deadline (the deadline countdown is calculated from each round date)

  • Players use Opt In / Opt Out for each session they want to join or skip

  • After the deadline passes, players will see Opt-in deadline has passed

For details, see League opt-in and Manage rounds and play dates in Rotating Partner Round Robin.

Step 3: Generate Matches and Organize Groups

Once players are in place, generate the match schedule. Groups are organized during the generation process.

  1. Go to the Matches tab in your event

  2. Tap the Admin button (typically visible to directors)

  3. Select Generate Matches

  4. In the popup that appears, configure:

    • Number of rounds: How many rotation cycles to play

    • Number of groups: Set to 1 to keep everyone in one pool, or split players into several. Each group plays entirely within itself.

  5. A groups view will appear showing auto-generated groups. Here you can:

    • Move players between groups to balance skill levels or keep friends together

    • Move players to Excluded if they don't want to participate in a specific date or session

  6. Click Continue, then Confirm

Good Game Sports automatically rotates partners each round and creates the full match schedule.

[!INFO] Tournaments and single day events generate every round at once. Leagues generate one play date at a time—see Generate matches by play date in a Rotating Partner Round Robin league.

For deeper generation options, including how to choose a group count, see Generate matches for Rotating Partner Round Robin. For group management after generation, see Edit player groups and regenerate in Rotating Partner Round Robin.

Byes are set by your player count

A round seats four players per match, so any players left over sit out that round. This is normal and the app spreads byes evenly.

Players in a group

Byes each round

Divisible by 4 (8, 12, 16)

None

Leaves 1 (9, 13, 17)

1

Leaves 2 (10, 14, 18)

2, plus one round with 4

Leaves 3 (11, 15, 19)

3

Turning on Restrict Courts adds more byes when you have fewer courts than matches. A group with fewer than 4 players produces a round with no matches at all.

Step 4: Admin Tools Before Event Start

After generating matches, use the Admin button on the Matches tab to fine-tune your event before play begins. Here's everything you can do:

Add a Single Game

If you need to add one extra game to a round (for example, to fill a court gap or give players an extra match):

  1. Tap Admin → Add Game

  2. Select the round where you want the game added

  3. Choose the group (if applicable)

  4. The game appears in the schedule—you can assign players manually

For the full add-game workflow, see Add an extra game in Rotating Partner Round Robin.

Add More Rounds

To extend your event with additional rounds:

  1. Tap Admin → Add Rounds

  2. Choose how many rounds to add

  3. Confirm to generate the new rounds

Existing matches and scores are preserved. New rounds keep players inside their existing groups. For more options, see Manage rounds and play dates in Rotating Partner Round Robin.

Configure Courts

Set which courts are available for your event:

  1. Tap Admin → Configure Courts

  2. Enter court numbers or ranges (e.g., 1-12, 15)

  3. Apply to this division or entire tournament

  4. Save to update available courts

Auto-Assign Courts

Let the system automatically distribute matches across your available courts:

  1. Tap Admin → Auto-Assign Courts

  2. Courts are distributed across all matches based on availability

  3. The system continues auto-assigning as matches complete (if enabled)

For full court management details, see Configure courts for Rotating Partner Round Robin.

Organize Matches: By Round or By Date

Choose how you view and navigate the match schedule:

  1. Tap Admin → Organize Matches

  2. Select your preferred view:

    • By Round: Navigate matches one round at a time

    • By Date: Group all rounds that share the same date together

  3. Save to apply the view

By Date is especially useful for league events with multiple sessions, letting you see all matches for a given day together.

Review Matchup Stats

The Matchup Stats button audits your current schedule for quality problems. It appears in the Admin menu once matches exist.

  1. Tap Admin → Matchup Stats

  2. Review the dialog:

    • Summary line: Total unique matchups across all rounds, and how many are repeated

    • Warning list: Flagged issues sorted by severity, each with an icon, color, and description

Matchup Stats is not only a report. Where it finds an imbalance it can suggest a specific swap, and applying the suggestion trades those two players within that round and refreshes the schedule on the spot—no regeneration needed.

Use this to catch duplicate matchups, uneven distribution, or other scheduling problems before the event starts.

Clear Rounds

If you need to rebuild a specific round:

  1. Tap Admin → Clear Round

  2. Select the round to clear

  3. Confirm—this deletes all matches and scores in that round

[!WARNING] You can clear any round, not just the most recent one. Clearing a round that isn't the latest may cause gaps in round numbering. Use Generate Matches again to rebuild after clearing.

Step 5: Enter Scores and Read Standings

As matches complete, enter scores to track standings:

  1. Go to the Matches tab

  2. Tap on a match card to open score entry

  3. Enter the score for each game (use + to add games if playing best-of series)

  4. Click Submit Score

Players can also enter their own scores through the app in some configurations. For full scoring details, see Score Rotating Partner matches.

If the wrong player is listed on a match, use the pencil icon on the match card rather than regenerating—see Substitutes and player swaps in Rotating Partner Round Robin.

How standings work in this format

Standings are tracked per player, not per team. Because partners change every round, the pairings in your schedule are temporary—they exist only for the round they were created in—so there is no team record to rank. Each player carries their own running record across every round they play, no matter who they were partnered with.

There is one standings table for the entire event. This is the same for leagues and for single day events: a league does not keep a separate standings per play date. Every round a player has played, on any date, feeds the same running record.

What this means in practice:

  • The standings tab shows a list of individual players, not partnerships.

  • A player's wins and losses come from every match they appeared in, across the whole event.

  • Byes do not count as a loss. A player who sat out a round simply has fewer games played.

  • Final placements follow the same rule: each player receives their own placement based on their individual standing, rather than a placement for a partnership.

If you want to look at a single stretch of the event rather than the totals, the standings view selector offers a Per Date option in leagues (Per Round elsewhere). That is an optional breakdown view—the default and the official result remain the single event-wide table.

[!INFO] A forfeit counts as a 1–0 win for the non-forfeiting side and moves win-loss only. Point-based columns such as PD, TP, and PP% are not updated from forfeits.

Step 6: Regenerate Rounds and Edit Player Groups

As your event progresses, you may need to adjust the schedule—add more rounds, rebuild from a certain point, or update which players are in which groups. The Edit Rounds dialog and Edit Player Groups button give you full control.

[!INFO] In a league, group editing and regeneration apply to the play date you are currently viewing. In a single day event or tournament, they apply to the whole event. Confirm the date on screen before you edit.

Add More Rounds

Extend your event without disturbing existing matches:

  1. Tap Admin → Edit Rounds

  2. Choose Add More Rounds

  3. Select how many rounds to add (1–10)

  4. Optionally assign a date to all new rounds

  5. Confirm—the new rounds are appended to your existing schedule

Existing matches and scores are preserved. For league events, the player group editor opens automatically after adding rounds, letting you adjust groups before the new rounds are generated.

Regenerate Rounds

Rebuild your schedule from a specific round onward—useful when players drop out or you need to restructure mid-event:

  1. Tap Admin → Edit Rounds

  2. Choose Regenerate Rounds

  3. Select the starting round:

    • Default: first round after the last round with completed scores (protects your scored matches)

    • You can choose an earlier round, including round 1

  4. Optionally set a date and enable Restrict to Courts (limits matches per round to your court count—excess players get byes)

  5. Confirm to delete and regenerate matches from the chosen round through the end

This is the tool for last-minute roster changes. Partners are recalculated for the new roster, and byes rebalance while accounting for who has already sat.

[!WARNING] Regenerating from round 1 deletes ALL matches, including completed ones. The system warns you before proceeding. Use this only if you need a complete schedule reset.

Edit Player Groups

Move players between groups or exclude them from future rounds:

  1. Tap Admin → Edit Player Groups

  2. The player group management dialog opens showing all current groups

  3. Make your changes:

    • Move players between groups to rebalance skill levels or adjust pairings

    • Move players to Excluded if they've dropped out or won't participate in remaining rounds

  4. Save—then choose Withdraw (exclusions only, protects results) or Regenerate

For full details including the league-versus-single-day difference, see Edit player groups and regenerate in Rotating Partner Round Robin.

Typical Mid-Event Workflow

When a player drops out mid-event:

  1. Open Edit Player Groups and move the player to Excluded

  2. Save the group changes

  3. Use Regenerate Rounds from the next unplayed round

  4. New matches are generated without the excluded player, preserving all completed scores

What's Next

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